Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, A name spoken of throughout the Muslim world, but who is he? What are his teachings? Are they really in accordance to the Sunnah[4] of our Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم)? What do we really know about him? Is he a reviver of the religion of Islam as some people claim or is he one of the thirty dajjal’s[5] and a reviver of the accursed cult known as the Khawaarij?

In order to understand such questions it is essential that we look to the biography of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab to gain a fair understanding of what his life and mission was all about. Therefore we shall look at his life from birth to death, and the impact that he had on the Muslim world to this very day.

Birth and Birthplace

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, Born 1115 AH in the village of Uyainah of al-Yamaamah, in the Najd province of central ‘Arabia northwest to “the capitol of Sa’udi ‘Arabia” [6] Riyaadh. This is the exact same location that gave home to Musaymiyah the liar. [7]

His Said Education

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab grew up in the house of his father, the great Sunni [8] orthodox Shaykh ul-Islam, ‘Abdul Wahhab Ibn Sulaymaan an-Najdi. He studied Hanbali Fiqh under his father. His stubbornness in learning was noticed at a very young age by his father to the point where Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab was forced to look for other teachers whilst his father placed his main focus on the humble soon to be Shaykh ul-Islam Sulaymaan Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab.

It is said that Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab travelled back and forth from Makkah and Madinah in attempt to find suitable teachers that was able to satisfy his lust of bad opinion. Therefore he sat with many Shuyukh, [9] but never completed his studies with them being unsatisfied with their doctrine.

In Makkah he studied with a Shaafi’ scholar by the name of ‘Abdullah Ibn Saalim al-Basri who was the leading scholar of ahaadeeth in the hijaaz at the time [10]

He also studied under the great Hanbali jurist, Abu al-Muwahhib al-Baali [11] it is also said he studied under other authorities such as ‘Ali al-Daghstani, Ismaa’el al-Ajaluni, the great scholar of ahaadeeth and Hanbli jurist ‘Abdullah Ibn Ibraheem al-Saif, [12] a subcontinent scholar from Indo-Pakistan Muhammad Hayaat as-Sindi, Muhammad Ibn Sulaymaan al-Kurdi and maybe more.

With Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s non contentment with valid scholarly authority, his dissatisfaction drove him to obtain studies in ‘Iraq. In this time Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab became heavily influenced by the creedal works of Imaam Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Imaam Ibn Qayyum. In fact many areas in which these two Imaam’s had only theorised by pen, Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab would later bring into practice.

It was not the habit of Imaam Ibn Taymiyah to destroy graves and demolish domes and kill anybody he deemed to be a mushrik, even though he made suggestions that extreme measures should be enforced to prevent people from doing shirk. To the lack of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s knowledge, Imaam Ibn Taymiyah later repented from such views after he was defeated in a series of debates ranging from many issues, theological and in areas of jurisprudence. [13]

Despite having studied under Hanbali, Shaafi’ and Hanafi teachers, Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab declared war against the four traditional madh-habs [14] under the pretext it was “haraam”[15] to blindly follow and trust any scholar as noted “he forcibly contradicted the blind following of any scholar”[16] Thus he thought he knew better than all previous scholarship, or yet was rather over satisfied with the opinions of Imaam Ibn Taymiyah and his student Ibn Qayyum.

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab was eventually drove out of ‘Iraq by the local learned scholars due to Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s sickness of referring to unknowledgeable seekers of knowledge as mushriks, simply for not knowing enough about Islam. He was forced to leave ‘Iraq in the heat of the day and almost died of thirst. He found himself begging for money to get to Syria, however after such a God decreed defeat, his humiliation made him to return to Najd.

Though Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab had obtained studies from a variety of scholars in different locations in the learned Muslim world, he did not, however, reach his discipline, nor obtain any senate to teach in any science from any of the above mentioned scholars. Moreover, none of his former teachers supported the doctrine he was soon to espouse and it is proven from the texts of historians that his teachers spoke of him with much negative critique.

Such as Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sulaymaan al-Kurdi and Shaykh Muhammad al-Sindi who both recognized his stubbornness and refusal to respect scholarly authority and said about him “Allah will allow this one to be led astray, miserable are the ones who are mislead by him [Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab]. Both of these teachers eventually combined with the brother of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab [Sulaymaan Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab] to write the classical text al-Sawaa’iq al-Ilahiyah fi ar-radd ‘ala al-Wahhabiyah in which his teacher wrote

Even a Wahhab scholar wrote about the Shaykh in a Saudi published biography:

“It seems that Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab was very attracted to reading – again, especially the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyum (his teacher) al-Ajilaani even said that most of his knowledge was self taught”!![18]

So it is seen from the presented facts that he was unqualified to act as an authority, nobody gave him senate and he was self taught, brainwashed in the misguided opinions of Imaam Ibn Taymiyah.

Upon his return, Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab would often attempt to debate great theologians which eventually caused him to be expelled and banned from many towns and villages. He even tried to debate his own father which led to a huge argument. His father’s eyes flowed with tears after reading the filth and bad opinions packed into the theological fast food sandwich, “Kitaab ut-Tawheed.

His father soon after died in 1153 AH never again having spoken to Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab since. Although before his death he would repeatedly tell the people “You will see much evil from my son Muhammad”!

Since his father passed away, Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab felt more free to publicize his deviant teachings more openly, although, underestimating the increase of knowledge of his own brother Sulaymaan Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab whom his father had trained in his absence. His father had trained young Sulaymaan well, giving him senate in ‘Aqeedah, [19] Fiqh [20] and other related sciences. Though Sulaymaan indeed had a difficult task ahead of him, he was all the more ready.

Meanwhile, Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab began to gain support of highway robbers and other criminals from around Najd, he was even given a small army of six hundred men. Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s rise to power spelt death and destruction, with his so called religious justifications. He permitted the shedding of blood of people who say the Kalimah, thus making it permissible to take their property and place their wives and children in captivity. He said in his Kashf ash-Shubbahaat:

“The people that ask for intercession through the Prophets and Angels, calling upon them and making supplication through their waseelah in attempt to draw nearer to Allah are committing the greatest of sins. Thus it is permitted to kill them and take their property” [21]

Even a modern committee of Wahhabi scholars admitted to this and confirmed this view when it was said:

“He [Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab] also made clear [to us] – the true meaning of tawheed [22]…and that it is not simply pronouncing the testimony of faith “la ilaha illallah” (none has the right to be worshipped except Allah); indeed, a person might be a disbeliever whose blood is permissible to shed and whose property it is permissible to take and he might pronounce the testimony of tawheed” [23]

It is clear that the kalimah [24] will not save a person from their sword. They will kill Muslims regardless.This statement mirrors the very same creed that the earlier Khawaarij [25] held, that its permissible to take the blood of those who pronounce the Kalimah, but yet disagree with their viewsMany ahaadeeth [26] prove that the kalimah is sufficient for one to be a Muslim believer, we shall quote them in a another chapter and address this belief that strongly implies that Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab believed in a deeds based salvation as opposed to the Sunni stance of not despairing the Mercy of Allah.His very first act was to march into a village with his six hundred or so bandits to demolish the grave of Zaid ibn al-Khattab. Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab personally took an axe and took it to the grave like a raving mad vandal. This was the first earthquake as the people of the village stood in fear from the aftershock. Never before had they faced anything like this.

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab continued to pillage the neighbouring territories such as Zabir, Ahsa, Huraimala, and his hometown ‘Uyainah, indiscriminately killing Muslim men women and children if they refused to accept his call. Those who did accept his call were forced to shave their beards and their heads under the pretext it was the hair of kufr. [27] He did not even spare the women from this ruling.

When the Khalifah [28] of the Muslims Sulaymaan Bin Urair’ar heard of this, they came with an army to meet challenge the Wahhabi threat, in which made Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab and his gang of vigilantes flee to Darriyah, fearing for their lifes.

The Pact With Ibn Sa’ud

Impressed with the religious doctrine and actions Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, the ruler of Darriyah, Muhammad Ibn Sa’ud knew that he could use Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab and his doctrine to his own advantage, giving him the religious justification he so needed to eventually take over the Hijaaz [29] and seat himself as the king of ‘Arabia. As one Wahhabi scholar admitted:

“What was indeed extraordinary was the coincidence of the ‘Alim’ and the “prince”, Muhammad Ibn Sa’ud, who felt the need for each other, and saw the wedding of idea to arm [with weapons, by force] as a key to a new age of Islamic history” [30]

They knew that the only way to take over the neighbouring villages was by force of doctrine by threat of violence. Thus they prepared military wise. It even said by some historians that Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab replaced the traditional swords with rifles supplied by the British government.

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, now together with the Sa’udi reinforcements and a much larger army raided Muslim territories regardless of hearing the Azaan.[31] The fact was, according to Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, their Shahaadah [32] was not sufficient, thus he would make a habit of plundering Muslim territories whilst allowing pagans to freely pass through ‘Arabia without any attempt to convert them. In fact he never once raided a pagan village.

His Kharijite traits became more apparent as he led rebellions against the Muslim rulers, killing believing men, enslaving women and children, demolishing graves and places of important heritage [making some into public toilets] all under the pretext that he was calling the people back to the Qur’an and Sunnah, and “the 800 year old lost teaching” tawheed.

He even had a blind man executed for simply sending peace and blessings on the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) after he had made the call of Azaan. He did this under the pretext that he needed to preserve the purity of tawheed for the people as the action of the blind man may have led to shirk. [33]

Much of the historical manuscripts of the scholarly works were destroyed by the Wahhabi cult, as libraries were burnt to the ground, and even Qur’anic texts were even scattered around on the streets and trampled on without a care.

From the year 1159AH, the central ‘Arabia was never to be the same. “Jihaad” [34] was declared against any Muslim who did not accept the Wahhabi call. It was the case of: you either join us or die. This is exactly what the Khawaarij did to anybody that disregarded their theology. Like the Sahaabi [35] Khabaab who was martyred fro simply quoting a hadeeth in defence of ‘Ali. Not only did they kill him, but they killed his wife and unborn child by slicing open her stomach and letting the contents fall to the floor.

The contemporary scholars that lived to see the Wahhabi threat and re-emergence of the Khawaarij documented works concerning his corrupt theology, including his own his own brother Shaykh ul-Islam Sulaymaan Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab. They are first hand witnesses to the historical happenings that have all documented the same truths concerning the Wahhabi cult and its call.

As the abundance of historical facts demonstrate, Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab was no reviver of Islam. Infact the movement denied eight hundred years of Islamic revival! The I.I.F.S.O translation of Kitaab ut-Tawheed informs us in the preface

“The movement was born out of a “realization” that Muslims had far too long been on a decline” [37]

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s arrogance knew no bounds as he opined that the great majority of scholars that predated him were mushrikeen [idolators] and thus kuffar [i.e. disbelievers]. He therefore rejected eight hundred years of authentic scholarship as being upon misguidance and innovation.

The claim is that he is [second to Ibn Taymiyah] the only reviver Allah has sent in eight hundred years of scholarship which contradicts the hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah sal Allahu alayhi wasallam is which he said:

“Allah will raise for this community at the end of every hundred years the one who will renovate its religion for it.” [38]

However, amongst the known revivers of each century who have been well documented, none of them [39] ever spoke of the same ideologies as Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, or his forefather in creed Imaam Ibn Taymiyah.

For example, who before Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab and Ibn Taymiyah, felt the need to divide and categorize tawheed into two, three or four parts? There was none! The same can be said in the many areas of creed in which Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab and Imaam Ibn Taymiyah have contradicted the consensus of the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah.

Implicit claim to Prophet-hood

Some scholars even noted that he made an implicit claim to Prophet-hood, though not claiming prophet-hood verbally. The following factors help demonstrate this point:

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab named the people of Najd that chose to follow him [either by force or free will] the Ansaar [i.e. the helpers] Just as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) called the people of Madinah the Ansaar for helping the Muhajireen. Likewise Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s non Najdi followers was labelled the Muhajiroon. The message sounded very clear as Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab opined Makkah and Medinah to be in a deep state of kufr with all the “grave worship” happening there so much so that he deemed the Hijaaz [Makkah and Medinah] to be dar ul-Kufr and his hometown Najd to be dar ul-Mumineen. Even Najd [al-Yamaamah] became to be spoken of as the “heart” of all ‘Arabia as Wahhabi follower Jamal Zarabozo stated in his biography of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab “al-Yamaamah is the heart [not Makkah or Madinah] of the entire ‘Arabian peninsula” [40] In this age they have called it Riyaadh and still classify it as “the capitol of Sa’udi ‘Arabia” [41] their disregard to the two holy sanctuaries can clearly be seen in this point.With his authority he did not act like a ruler [Qadi] or even a humble scholar. He acted like a Prophet as Muslims would be executed for simply questioning his “divinely inspired wisdom in deriving judgements”.Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab made it very clear that he deemed anybody who rejected his mission as a disbeliever, almost as if they had denied a Prophet! He would instruct “new believers” to his cult to witness against themselves that they were previously kuffar [disbelievers] and that their parents was also kuffar before they could be considered as true Wahhabi believers. This is despite them previously saying the testimony of faith [i.e. the Shahaadah] “la ilaha illa Allah” – there is no deity except Allah! As Muhmmad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab has claimed in a number of his works, that the Shahaadah is not sufficient for one to enter paradise! If a Muslim was to reject his call, they would be beheaded on the spot.He commanded men and women to shave their heads as he deemed it the “hair of kufr”. This was his misinterpretation of a hadeeth that spoke of the hair underneath the armpits and the genital hairs. This action was unique to his call and the Prophet forewarned us of this sigh when he said “their sign is that they will shave their heads”.Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab “abrogated” much of the ahadeeth about fighting in the hijaaz [which the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) forbade] yet Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab considered himself such an authority to permit the killing of Muslims, even by the side of the Ka’bah.This is the most greatest point. When the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam entered Makkah and destroyed the idols, Allah sent down the ayah “Verily the truth has come and falsehood has perished”. This meant that idolatry had been totally obliterated in the Hijaaz and that Shaytaan lost all hope of misguiding the Muslims to worship taghut. This happening was a great sign and symbol of Prophet Muhammad’s [sal allahu alayhi wasallam] Risaalah, yet Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd ul-Wahhab claimed that the hijaaz was riddled with idol worship and that he had been sent with a mission to destroy the idol worship in Arabia, thus he implicitly called to his own message, thus he is nothing more than a false Prophet.These are amongst the few indictors of his implicit claim to prophecy. His followers can also be seen giving him the status of a Prophet throughout many Wahhabi works, such as The life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab by Jamal Zarabozo who states in the chapter entitled “Motivation Behind This Work” was to

“Defend the honour and truth of their religion, their Prophet, and their brethren” [42]

This really refers to the cult of “Salafism” the “Salafi Prophet” Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab and their “Salafi” brethren! In one translation of Mukhtasar Seerat ur-Rasul, more praise and attention is given to introducing Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, than the little that is spoken of regarding the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) himself:

“After Imaam Muhammad bin Sa’ud Islamic university had decided to hold a conference in the name of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab [not in the name of Allah, or his Rasul], it formed a committee to prepare for this conference and to provide a detailed concept of it and then to implement it. The committee began its work by restating its general objective for the conference, which was to inform people about the Shaykh [not Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), but the Shaykh] and reveal the truth about his da’wah [not the Prophet Muhammad’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) da’wah, but the da’wah of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab]”

A few points can be seen from this above statement

This is a book that is supposed to be talking about the biography of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), yet the opening credits somehow go to Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul WahhabA conference is held, not in the name of Allah nor His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم), but yet in the name of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab. Would the shoe been on the other foot, the Wahhabis would have been all to quick to accuse of of shirk for having a conference in the name of a Sufi Shaykh, etc.Whilst the great majority of Muslims around the world hold conferences in celebration of the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) birth and gather together to speak about his birth etc, Wahhabis are all to quick to slam us with the charges of innovation and heresy, but yet here they are celebrating “Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab week. This exposes their hypocrisy.The general objective as seen from above is not to promote the da’wah of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), but to specifically promote the da’wah of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab.As long as Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab occupies a position of doctrinal authority in the hearts of Wahhabis, they are to be considered a cult, a new religion. One regular visitor to the hijaaz – having seen the golden ages of the Sunni era – noted that a new religion had begun with the appearance of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab. [43]

His Death

He died a miserable death at the age of ninety-two years old in 1792 AD and was buried in an unmarked grave, nobody could visit him or pray for him nor place twigs in his grave which is a prophetic Sunnah that one may receive the mercy of Allah. Where ever his grave might be, it is unknown. His grave is also a bid’ah, to bury somebody in an unknown and unmarked grave is indeed an innovation. We all know where the Messenger of Allah sal Allahu alayhi wasallam and his blessed companions are buried, and this is because they did not command their followers to bury them in unknown graves.

Further more, it is noted:

“By the time of his death, he had seen his teachings spread throughout all of Najd and much of al-Ahsaa. Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab had also seen the first signs of its potential against the leaders of the hijaaz” [44]

His death led to a brutal raid on the holy sanctuaries , Makkah and Madinah in which many orthodox scholars was put to the sword. This demonstrates again that Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab and his followers are the modern day Khawaarij and they did Kharuj [45] against the ameers and Khalifah’s of the hijaaz. Plus Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab permitted fighting by the side of the Ka’bah, when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) clearly said:

“Allah and not the people has made Mecca a sanctuary. So anybody who has belief in Allah and the Last Day (i.e. a Muslim) should neither shed blood in it nor cut down its trees. If anybody argues that fighting is allowed in Mecca as Allah’s Apostle did fight (in Mecca), tell him that Allah gave permission to His Apostle, but He did not give it to you. The Allah allowed me only for a few hours on that day (of the conquest) and today (now) its sanctity is the same (valid) as it was before. So it is incumbent upon those who are present to convey it (this information) to those who are absent.” [46]

The Books Of Fitaan He Left Behind

From some of the thirty or more books he has authored are

Kitaab ut-TawheedAl-Usul ul-ThalathaKashf ash-ShubahaatKitaab al-Kabaa’irMukhtasar Seerat ur-Rasul (صلى الله عليه وسلم)Many books of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab have not yet seen a publishing house and are still in manuscript form, let alone translated. They all expose the creed of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab as being from the Khawaarij if one is to carefully examine the texts for his theology. With this chapter alone I have demonstrated how the modern day Wahhabi cult are none other than the re-emergence of the end of times Khawwarij prophesised in the ahaadeeth of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم). However will shall continue and cover every angle.

[3] I have utilized books such as Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab – His Life and Mission by Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdullah Ibn Baz; A Breif History of the Wahhabi Movement by Jamal Effendi, Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine vol.1, pp. 188-197 Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s Mukhtasar Seerat ur-Rasul, the translation which also begins with the mention of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab and “his mission”. The life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab by Jamal Zarabozo, Encyopedias and other types of historical reference works.

[4] The creed, speech and actions of the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

[5] One of the thirty liars that have been prophesized to emerge in the last days of time.

[6][6] The reader may wonder at why I have chosen to put this sentence in inverted commas. It is important to note that my ‘Aqeedah is that ‘Arabia is called Jazeerat ul-Arab, as it was called in the Holy Prophets (صلى الله عليه وسلم) time and not the “Kingdom of Sa’udi ‘Arabia” as described today. Reason being it is wrong to name such holy lands after a tyrant, plus innovation. If anything the country should have been called the Kingdom of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), however due to the Prophet’s known character of much humility, he would most likely tell me to call it Jazeerat ul-Arab. Secondly, it is my ‘Aqeedah that the capital city, or cities rather, in ‘Arabia are Makkah and Madinah and not Riyaadh! The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not like Riyaadh as it is a source of great fitaan. Thus, for this sentence, inverted commas. See Darussalam’s The Concise collection on Creed and Tawheed, p. 13 for “the capitol of Sa’udi ‘Arabia” Riyaadh.

[7] Musaymimah the liar. He claimed to be a Prophet of Allah after Muhammad and composed his own poetry attempting to compete with the Qur’an. One verse read “O beautiful cat, what nice fluffy ears you have” however, despite his stupid claims and poetry he managed to build a following of thirty thousand and planned to attack Makkah and Madinah upon hearing about the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) passing away. Abu Bakr sent Khaleed Ibn Waleed and an army to Najd which is famously known as the batlle of Yamaamah, where many huffaz died. Washee was the one honored by Allah to redeem himself by killing Musaymimah the liar with his spear. Washee was the slave of Abu Sufyaan’s wife Bint and was responsible for the martyrdom of Hamza before his conversion to Islam.

[8] Sunni is a western derived term from a person who follows the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah. It is important to note here that there are ignorant Muslims in this day of age promoting the creed that we should not be Sunni’s, Shi’a, Wahhabi’s, Deobandis etc, but we should be Muslims. Although there is a correctness hidden within their falsehood the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has commanded us to be Sunnis in the following hadeeth: “Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided Khalifahs that come after me. Bite upon it with your molar teeth [nawaakhidh] and beware of newly invented matters [in creed, and actions] for certainly every newly invented matter is an innovation and every innovation is a misguidance” Musnad of Imaam Ahmad narrated by al-‘Irbaad Bin Saariyah, hadeeth no. 17145, Sunan Abu Dawud, Kitaab us-Sunnah, hadeeth no. 4607 Imaam Nawawi’s Forty Hadeeth, hadeeth no. 28; and is classified as a Saheeh hadeeth. The one who follows the Sunnah as commanded is known as a Sunni. Please refer to the appendix in my translation of Lum’at ul-I’tiqaad Who Are the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah?

[13] The repentance of Imaam Ibn Taymiyah is documented, however many Ash’ari scholars of Egypt had doubts about his repentance and still kept him imprisoned. See Encylopedia of Islamic Doctrine, vol. 1, p. 65. In the best opinion, he died a Sunni Muslim upon the creed of the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah after repenting from his corrupt views, although not being able to correct them by way of writing as his writing materials was taken away from him. Upon his death, the very same scholars that condemned him, and those who debated him prayed over him at his Janaazah, which strongly implies that he was considered and buried as a Muslim believer.

[14] The four schools of Islamic law known as the Hanafi madh-hab, Maaliki madh-hab, Shaafi’ madh-hab and the Hanbali madh-hab named after four great respected Sunni scholars, who are known for their excellence and ability in deriving from the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

[16] P.16 of The Concise Collection of Creed and Tawheed, Darussalam Publishing

[17] This book is presently being translated by Shaykh Abu Ja’far al-Hanbali and is promised to be a devastating blow to the Khawaarij Wahhabi Cult. We should expect this text to be released via the Hanbali Text Society 2010 http://www.htspub.com

[19] ‘Aqeedah, the Mu’tazilah innovated terminology to refer to creed. The true ‘Arabic word is al-I’tiqaad. However for easy comprehension I have used ‘Aqeedah as many Muslims are now over familiar with this word.

[20] Jurisprudence, Islamic law relating to hygiene and worship, charity and hajj, etc.

[21] Kashf ash-Shubuhaat

[22] Tawheed as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and is companions taught is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger. Anybody who testifies to this should not be killed. This can be seen from the hadeeth where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said “”I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’ And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah.” Saheeh al-Bukhaari, vol. 1, hadeeth no. 387 this hadeeth serves as an evidence against Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab who was taught it was permissible to kill people who testified to the Kalimah, more will be said of this in following chapters. Therefore tawheed is synonymous with the kalimah which is to testify there is no god but Allah. This is tawheed.

[23] Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s Mukhtasar Seerat ur-Rasul p. 18

[24] Literally means a word or statement, but in the context of ‘Aqeedah its linguistic reference is to tawheed, testifying to Allah’s Oneness and His Messenger Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

[25] A group that is known to rebel against valid Muslim authority until they eventually exit out of the fold of Islam by killing Muslim believers

[26] The plural of hadeeth which in its singular form means a saying or action of the Holy Prophet. (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

[27] The hair of disbelief

[28] Ruler, valid Muslim authority

[29] The true heart of ‘Arabia, i.e. the two holy sanctuaries

[30] P. xvii in the preface to Kitaab ut-Tawheed written and translated by Isma’il R. al-Furuqi

[31] The Muslim call to prayer

[32] Shahaadah, literally means to witness, a synonymous term for the Kalimah

[33] Polytheism, i.e. associating partners with Allah’s divinity.

[34] Military warfare

[35] Companion of the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), I dedicate this book to him and others that met with the sword of the Khawaarij

[36] The Divine Thunderbolts: as-Sawaa’iq al-Ilahiyah.

[37] I.I.F.S.O translation of Kitaab ut-Tawheed, p. xv

[38] Narrated by Abu Hurayrah, Sunan Abu Dawud, hadeeth no. 2011

[39] None of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab’s family or Sunni teachers ever taught the same doctrine that Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab would later teach and force the people to believe.

[43] Travels Through ‘Arabia and Other Countries in the East, vol. 2, p. 131, by C. Neibuhr [most likely a convert to Islam as he travelled in and out of the Hijaaz without any restrictions, even visiting Shuyukh in Makkah and Madinah and was a first hand witness to the rise of the Khawaarij Wahhabi cult.]

[44] P. 54 Again his teachings and not the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) this can be seen simply from the hadeeth in which the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says “The harshness of heart and sternness is in the East and faith is among the people of the Hijaz. Saheeh Muslim, Kitaab ul-Imaan, hadeeth no. 72; also found within Mishkaat ul-Masaabeeh, Kitaab ul-Fitaan, hadeeth no. 4

[45] Rebellion against the Muslim leaders which he Prophet forbade

[46] Saheeh al-Bukhaari, vol. 1 hadeeth no. 104 also in Saheeh al-Bukhari vol. 1 hadeeth no. 114 with the following words “Beware! (Mecca is a sanctuary.) Verily! Fighting in Mecca was not permitted for anyone before me nor will it be permitted for anyone after me. It (war) in it was made legal for me for few hours or so on that day. No doubt it is at this moment a sanctuary… also in vol. 3, hadeeth no. 58; hadeeth no. 60; vol. 4, hadeeth no. 412; vol. 5, hadeeth no 603; and volume 9, hadeeth number. 19. Thus there is no ambiguity to the authenticity and strength of this hadeeth, having numerous chains of isnaad.

One day, the Shaikh said to the governor, 'Let us demolish the dome at the grave of Zaid Ibn al-Khatab t (Zaid Ibn al-Khatab was the brother of Umar Ibn al-Khattab t and a martyr, who died in the fighting against Musailimah Khaddhab in 12 A.H, he was buried and later on people built a dome on his grave). It is erected on deviation and the Prophet r has forbidden building domes or mosques on graves. Moreover, this dome has destroyed the people's belief with polytheism. So, it must be demolished.' The Prince agreed and mobilized an army of six hundred soldiers and marched towards the grave.

The Shaikh, thus, strove in his preaching and Jihad for fifty years from 1158 A.H. until he died in 1206. He resorted to all methods of his mission - Jihad, preaching, resistance, debates and arguments until people adhered to obedience and demolished the domes and mosques built by them on the graves...

The social conditions prevalent during the time of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab's Najd andthose of the Najd during the time of the Prophet (SAW) and the Kharajite rebellion against Sayyidina Ali were not significantly different. It would have been more appropriate and more instructive ... to compare these two conditions rather thanthat of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab's Najd and the conditions prevalent in the Hijaz atthe time of the Prophet (SAW).

For example, we know that Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab emanates from the same clan that formed the most powerful base of the Kharajites during the time of Sayyidina Ali, namely, the Banu Tamim. It would, therefore, have been of immense interest to examine any ideological linkages that might have existed between the Kharajites of then and the ideological conditions prevailing in the Najd during Muhammad Abdul Wahhab's time. After all - and this is one of their great virtues - Arabian tribal life is known for its integrity in oral traditions. Moreover, both the principles and consequences of his version of "Tawhid" were almost identical to those of the Kharajites.

He learnt to read the Qur'aan at a very early age and exerted himself in studies and advanced learning at the hands of his father, Shaikh Abdul Wahhab Ibn Sulaiman, who was a great jurisprudent and the Judge of Oyayna.

This book is among the first and earliest refutations of the Wahhabi sect in print, consisting in over forty-five concise chapters spanning 120 pages that aim to show the divergence of the Wahhabi school, not only from the Consensus and usûl of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a and the fiqh of the Hanbali Madhhab, but also from their putative Imams, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim on most or all the issues reviewed.

A selected chronology of other early condemnations of Wahhabism in print:

1. Shaykh Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Shafi`i al-Kurdi al-Madani, said to be one of Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab's former teachers, wrote a fatwa condemning the Wahhabi movement in general terms. It is reproduced at the end of Sayyid `Alawi ibn Ahmad al-Haddad's Misbah al-Anam (1908 edition; see below) and is also found at the beginning of the Waqf Ihlas offset reprint of Sulayman IAW's Sawa`iq.

2. Al-San`ani (d. 1182) the famous author of Subul al-Salam at first wrote Muhammad IAW a panegyric which he sent him. Then he changed his mind and wrote an epistle denouncing him titled Irshad Dhawi al-Albab ila Haqiqat Aqwal Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab. See on this Imam al-Kawthari's Maqalat (article 'IAW and Muhammad `Abduh'), al-Shawkani's al-Badr al-Tali`, s.v. 'Muhammad ibn Isma`il al-Yamani,' and Siddiq Hasan Khan al-Qinnawji's Abjad al-`Ulum, introduction, and his Taj al-Mukallal.

3. Al-Habib `Alawî ibn Ahmad al-Haddad, Misbah al-Anam fi Raddi Shubah al-Najdi al-Bid`i al-Lati Adalla biha al-`Awamm ('The Luminary of Mankind Concerning the Refutation of the Fallacies of the Innovator from Najd by which He Has Misguided the Common Public' written 1216/1801 but long out of print!) of which I translated and published the introduction [see outline in a separate post] together with the translation of al-Sayyid Yûsuf al-Rifa`i's Advice to Our Brothers the Scholars of Najd (1420/1999);

4. Al-Sawi (d. 1241) in his Hashiya `ala al-Jalalayn for Surat 35:6 mentions the Wahhabis and refers to them as Khawârij. NOTE that this phrase and the word 'Wahhabiyya' was excised from all present-day editions of this Tafsir!

5. Ibn `Abidin (d. 1243) said the same in his famous Hashiya, Book of Iman, Bab al-Bughât.

His words and who consider the Companions of our Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to be disbelievers are not a condition for someone to be a kharijite, but rather are a mere clarification of what those who revolted against ‘Ali (Allah Most High be well pleased with him) in fact did. Otherwise, it is enough to be convinced of the unbelief of those they fight against, as happened in our own times with the followers of [Muhammad ibn] ‘Abd al-Wahhab, who came out of the Najd in revolt, and took over the sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina. They followed the Hanbali madhhab, but believed that they were the Muslims, and that those who believed differently than they did were polytheists (mushrikin). On this basis, they held it lawful to kill Sunni Muslims (Ahl al-Sunna) and their religious scholars, until Allah Most High dispelled their forces, and the armies of the Muslims attacked their strongholds and subdued them in 1233 A.H. [1818](Hashiya radd al-muhtar, 4.262).

6. The Mufti of Makka, Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan (d. 1304/1886) with several works: -- al-Durar al-Saniyya fî al-Radd alâ al-Wahhabiyya ('The Pure Pearls in Refuting the Wahhabis') (Cairo, 1319 and 1347), -- Fitnat al-Wahhabiyya ('The Wahhabi Tribulation'), and -- Khulâsat al-Kalâm fî Bayân Umarâ' al-Balad al-Harâm ('The Summation Concerning the Leaders of the Holy Land,' whose evidence is quoted in full by al-Nabhânî in Shawâhid al-Haqq p. 151-177), the last two a history of the Wahhabi movement in Najd and the Hijâz.

'As for the Wahhabis they are a misguided sect (firqa dalla) and volumes were compiled - both in Arabic and other languages - declaring them heretics. Among them is the book of our teacher in Hadith, our Master `Allama Ahmad ibn Zaini Dahlan al-Makki ' Allah sanctify his secret - titled al-Durar al-Saniyya fi al-Radd `ala al-Wahhabiyya. The best word ever said about them is that of the Mufti of al-Madinat al-Munawwara, Mawlana Abu al-Su`ud - Allah have mercy on all of them: {The devil has engrossed them and so has caused them to forget remembrance of Allah. They are the devil's party. Lo! is it not the devil's party who will be the losers'} (58:18-19).'

Al-Sawi al-Maliki adduced the same verse against them in his Hashiya on Tafsir al-Jalalayn. And Allah knows best.

The horn of Shaytaan that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) referred to is you [Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhab].

One of the dalils showing that your path is heretic is the hadith sharif narrated by ‘Uqbah Ibn Amir and collected in the Sahihayn [Bukhari and Muslim]: ‘Rasul-Ullah (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) ascended the minbar, and it was the last time I saw him on the minbar. He said: ‘I do not fear that you will become mushrikuns after me, but I fear that, because of worldly interests, you will fight each other, and thus be destroyed like the people of old.’ The Messenger of Allah (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) foretold all that would happen to his Ummah until the end of the world. This hadith sharif shows that he was certain of the fact that this Ummah will never worship idols. By saying so, he destroys Wahhabism from its roots, since Wahhabi books say that Ummah al-Muhammadiyyah is involved in polytheism, that Muslim countries are full of idols, and that Muslim graves are houses of shirk. They also claim that someone who does not accept to consider mushrikuns those who ask for intercession by the graves is himself a kafir. On the contrary, Muslims have been visiting graves and asking for the intercession of awliyas for centuries. No Islamic scholar has even called such Muslims mushrikuns.

My brother asks: ‘A hadith sharif says: "Of all that will befall you, shirk is what I fear more." Is not this a dalil of the fact that a part of this Ummah will be engaged in shirk?'

I say: It is inferred by many other hadiths that this hadith refers to shirku-l-asghar. There are similar hadiths, narrated by Shaddad Ibn ‘Aws, Abu Hurayrah and Mahmud Ibn Labid (may Allah be pleased with all of them), according to which the Prophet (sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) feared that shirku-l-asghar would be committed by his Ummah. It has exactly happened as it was foretold in the hadith, and many Muslims are guilty of shirku-l-asghar. But you, in your ignorance, confuse shirku-l-asghar with shirku-l-akbar, and the tragic consequence of this mistake of yours is that you regard as ‘unbelievers’ those Muslims that do not accept to call other Muslims ‘unbelievers’."

]]>2012-10-21T18:22:34+02:002012-10-21T18:22:34+02:00http://islam.nur.nu/viewtopic.php?t=3598&p=5138#p5138Quoted below is one of the “lofty virtues” of the sand on Ibn Taymiyya’s grave . Note that the source of this narration is from someone who supported Ibn Taymiyyah and is commonly used as a source by Wahhabis themselves for pro-Ibn Taymiyya propaganda.

“He told me a strage story, for he said: When I was a boy, a sister of mine was stricken with an eye-disease (ramad). As we strongly believed in Ibn Taymiyah- he was colleague of my father and often used to visit him-, it entered my mind to take some earth from Ibn Taymiyah’s grave in order to make an eye powder(kuhl) for my sister. Yet her eye-disease remained unaltered and the eye powder had no effect on her. Thus I went again to the grave, and there I found somone from Baghdad who had collected bags full of earth. I asked him ‘What are you going to do with this ?’, and he replied, ’I am taking it to use it for eye-disease, for I make of it an eye powder for some of my children.’ I rejoiced, ‘But do you find it effective?’ ‘Yes’, and he added that he has experienced its effect. Hearing this, I felt reassured about my intention and took some earth from the tomb. I put the powder on mysister’s eyes while she was sleeping, and soon she was cured(from the disease).

[Ibn Nasir ad-Din ad-Dimashqi in ar-Radd al-wafir (p.136), as translated in the book "The Living and the dead in Islam" by Werner Diem and Marco Scholler]

The Story Said By Ibn 7aji On Batai'hi AL-Mizzi: When I Was A Young Man I Had A Girl That Have A Conjunctivitis In Her Eye,I Think In Ibn Taymiya And He Was A Friend Of My FatherAnd He Came To Us For Visiting My Father Before,I Said To My Self I Have To Take Sand From His Tomb To Put In Her Eye.I Was Going To Ibn Taymiya's Tomb And I Found A Baghdadi Man Taking Alot Of Sand From The Tomb.I Said To Him What You Made From This Sand,He Told Me That He Have Children And They Have A Conjunctivies In their Eyes.I Said If It's DOing Well,He Said To Me That He Used It Before,After That I Take For My Girl And Put It On Her Eye When She Was Sleeping And She Becomes Well.

A scholar of Arabic letters at first, then tafsir and tasawwuf, nicknamed al-Qushayri and Sultan al-'Arifin in his time for his pre-eminence in tasawwuf, known in his lifetime for his devoutness to worship, asceticism, and generosity, Ibn 'Arabi was praised by al-Munawi as "a righteous friend of Allah and a faithful scholar of knowledge" (waliyyun salihun wa 'alimun nasih), by Ibn 'Imad al-Hanbali as "the absolute mujtahid without doubt," and by al-Fayruzabadi as "the Imam of the People of Shari'a both in knowledge and in legacy, the educator of the People of the Way in practice and in knowledge, and the shaykh of the shaykhs of the People of Truth through spiritual experience (dhawq) and understanding."

He became known first as al-Shaykh al-Kabir ("The Great Shaykh") then al-Shaykh al-Akbar ("The Greatest Shaykh") with specific reference to the sciences of tasawwuf in which he authored hundreds of books.3

His Doctrine ('Aqida)

His greatest and best-known is his last work, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya ("The Meccan Conquests") which begins with a statement of doctrine - translated in forthcoming posts - about which al-Safadi said:

"I saw that from beginning to end it consists in the doctrine of Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari without any difference whatsoever."

His Rank of Mujtahid Mutlaq

In jurisprudence Ibn 'Arabi is often said to follow the Zahiri school, but this is incorrect since he himself denies it, as quoted by Ibn 'Imad from Ibn 'Arabi's two poems al-Ra'iyya and al-Nuniyya, which state respectively:

------------------------”The Sheikh al-Akbar (A: Muhyiddin ibn al-’Arabi), Allah most high sanctify his inmost being, writes in his letter about spiritual station of annihilation in gnostic vision: ”When a book falls into a person’s hands concerning a subject he knows nothing about (knows meaning through having studied it with sheikhs who are masters of it) and has not learned by engaging in it at first hand, he should do absolutely nothing with the book, but rather return it to those whom it concerns. He should not believe, disbelieve, or discuss it at all.” (Reliance of the traveller 1994: 757) .------------------------

“Muyiddin ibn al-‘Arabi is Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-‘Arabi, Abu Bakr Muhyi al-Din al-Hatimi al-Ta’i, The Greatest Sheikh (al-Shaykh al-Akbar), born in Murcia (in present-day Spain) in 560/1165. A “mujtahid” Imam in Sacred Law, Sufism, Qur’anic exegesis, hadith, and other Islamic sciences, and widely regarded as a friend (wali) of Allah Most High, he was the foremost representative of the Sufi school of the “oneness of being” (wahdat al-wujud), as well as a Muslim of strict literal observance of the prescriptions of the Qur’an and sunna. He first took they way of Sufism in A.H. 580, and in the years that followed authored some 600 books and treatises in the course of travels and residences in Fez, Tunis, Alexandria, Cairo, Mecca, Baghdad, Mosul, Konya, Aleppo, and finally Damascus, where he lived till the end of his life and completed his “al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya” [The Meccan Revelations] and “Fusus al-Hikam” [The Precious Stones of the ring-settings of the Wisdoms]. Since interest in his work continues among even non-Muslim scholars, a number of hermeneutical obstacles are worth mentioning here that have in some measure so far hindered serious efforts to understand the Sheikh’s works, by friend and foe alike.

The first lack of common ground with the author, who has written,

“We are a group whose works are unlawful to peruse, since the Sufis, one and all, use terms in technical senses by which they intend other than what is customarily meant by their usage among scholars, and those who interpret them according to their usual significance commit unbelief.”

While this may not be particularly intimidating to someone who is already an unbeliever, it does at least implicitly deny the validity of a do-it- yourself approach to the Sheikh’s thought and point up the relevance of the traditional maxim,

'Knowledge is to be taken from those who possess it.'

A related difficulty is that the context of much of Ibn al-‘Arabi’s “Futuhat” and other works is not only the outward Islamic sciences, but also their inner significance, not by any means an “esoteric symbolism” that nullifies the outward content of the Sheikh’s inquiries, but a dimension of depth, a reflective counterpart to their this-worldly significance whose place and existential context is the world of the spirit, to which the physical universe—in which many of his would-be interpreters are firmly enmeshed and know nothing besides, especially those who are atheists—is like a speck of dust in the sea. While the present discussion cannot adequately do justice to the topic, one may yet observe that the heart of someone familiar only with the “What will I eat,” “What will I say,” “Will it prove feasible,” and other physical and intellectual relations of instrumentality that make up this world is no more capable of real insight into the world of someone like the Sheikh than a person inches away from a giant picture is capable of “seeing” the picture he believes is “before his very eyes.” The way of Ibn al-‘Arabi is precisely a “way,” and if one has not traveled it or been trained to see as Ibn al-‘Arabi sees, one may well produce intelligent remarks about one’s perceptions of the matter, as attested to by a whole literature of “historical studies” of Sufism, but the fact remains that one does not see.

A third difficulty is the problem of spurious interpolations by copyists, as once happened to ‘Abd al-Wahhab Sha‘rani, who had to bring his own handwritten manuscript to court to prove he was innocent of the unbelief that enemies had inserted into his work and published in his name. The “Hashiya” of Ibn ‘Abidin notes that this has also happened to the “Fusus al- Hikam” of Ibn al-‘Arabi, the details being given in a promulgation by the Supreme Ottoman Sultanate exonerating the author of the statements of unbelief (kufr) it said that it was interpolated into the work. This is supported by the opinion of Mahmud Mahmud Ghurab, an Ibn al-‘Arabi specialist of Damascus who has published more than twelve books on the Sheikh’s thought, among them “al-Fiqh ‘ind al-Shaykh al-Akbar Muhyiddin ibn al-‘Arabi” [Sacred Law According to the Greatest Sheikh, Muhyiddin ibn al-‘Arabi], which clarifies Ibn al-‘Arabi’s position as a Zahiri Imam and mujtahid in Sacred Law; and “Sharh Fusus al-Hikam” [Exegesis of “The Precious Stones of the ring-settings of the Wisdoms], in which Ghurab indicates eighty-six passages of the “Fusus” that he believes are spurious, adducing that they contradict the letter and spirit of “al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya,” which must be given precedence because we possess a manuscript copy in the author’s own handwriting, while there are no such copies of the “Fusus.”

One may summarize the above-mentioned difficulties and others by the general observation that without a master with whom to read these texts, someone who has himself read them with a teacher aware of their place in the whole of the Sheikh’s work, one is in danger of projecting one’s own limitations onto the author. This happens in our times to various groups of interpreters, among them non-Muslim “sufis” who have posthumously made Ibn al-‘Arabi an "honorary syncretist", saying that he believed all religions to be equally valid and acceptable—which Ghurab says is an ignorant misreading, and to which the Sheikh himself furnishes a sufficient reply in his account of his convictions (‘aqida) at the first of the “Futuhat” where he says,

“Just as I charge Allah, His angels, His entire creation, and all of you to bear witness upon me that I affirm His Unity, so too I charge Him Most Glorious, His angels, His entire creation, and all of you to bear witness upon me that I believe in the one He has elected, chosen, and selected from all His existence, Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace, who He hassent to all mankind entirely (ila jami’ al-nas kaffatan) to bring good tidings and to warn and to call to Allah by His leave” (“al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya”).

Other interpreters who commit errors are well-meaning Muslims who do not and cannot understand the Sheikh’s words, which they read in their native Arabic as if it were a newspaper and then level accusations of unbelief against the author on the basis of what comes to their minds while doing so. For all groups of interpreters, there is a pressing need for scholarly modesty and candor about our exegetical limitations, and to draw attention to the fact that without a guide in reading the Sheikh’s thought, one is adrift in a sea of one’s own guesswork.

Aside from these basic hermeneutic requirements for reading the work of Ibn al-‘Arabi, other, existential qualifications are needed, for as mentioned above, the Sheikh’s method is a way, and as such entails not only curiosity, but commitment and most of all submission to Allah Most High as the Sheikh had submission to Him, namely through Islam—as well as other conditions mentioned by Ibn Hajar Haytami in a legal opinion in which, after noting that it is permissible or even meritorious (mustahabb) to read the Sheikh’s works, but only for the qualified, he writes:

“Imam Ibn al-‘Arabi has explicitly stated:

‘It is unlawful to read [the Sufis’] books unless one attains to their level of character and learns the meaning of their words in conformity with their technical usages, neither of which is found except in someone who has worked assiduously, rolled up his sleeves, abandoned the wrong, tightened his belt, filled himself replete with the outward Islamic sciences, and purified himself from every low trait connected with this world and the next. It is just such a person who comprehends what is being said and is allowed to enter when he stands at the door’.”

The Sheikh outlines what is entailed by “working assiduously” in a series of injunctions (wasaya) at the end of his “Futuhat” that virtually anyone can benefit from, and by which one may infer some of the outward details of the Sheikh’s way. By all accounts, he lived what he wrote in this respect, and his legacy bears eloquent testimony to it. He died in his home in Damascus, a copy of Ghazali’s “Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din” on his lap, in 638/1240.”(Reliance of the traveller 1994: 1080ff)

[Excerpted from From the Light of Ahl al-Bayt: My Spiritual Experiences Unveiled]

by Imam Metawalli ash-Sha`rawi

Sayyida Nafisa was born in Makkah on the 11th of Rabi`a al-Awwal, the same night that the Prophet (s) was born, in the year 145 H. Her father had been appointed governor of Madinat al-Munawwara in the year 150 H. She accompanied her father to Madina at the tender age of five. There she memorized the entire Qur`an and studied Islamic jurisprudence in depth. Being extremely intelligent she also became adept in explaining the Qur`an despite her young age.

She was the daughter of al-Hasan al-Anwar, the son of Zaid al-Ablaj, son of al-Imam al-Hasan (r), brother of al-Imam al-Husayn (r), son of the Daughter of the Prophet (s) Sayyida Fatimat al-Zahra (r). She is from the family of the Prophet (s) about which Allah said in the Holy Qur`an “Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.” [33: 33]

Young Nafisa frequented the grave of her grandfather the Prophet (s) (mulazamat qabri jaddiha al-Mustafa). The People of Madina loved her deeply. She became renowned for her abstemiousness (zuhd) and piety (taqwa), for fasting the day, spending the nights in prayer and for her excessive devotion to worshipping Allah (swt).

Sayyida Nafisa had many titles by which she was known among the people, derived from her many different miracles (karamat ). She is known as Nafisat al-`ilmi wal-ma`rifat, (the Rare Lady of Knowledge and Gnosis) because of what she achieved and accumulated from knowledge of the Family of the Holy Prophet (s). She is called Nafisat al-Tahira, the Rare Lady of Purity, and Nafisat al-`Abida, the Rare Worshipful Lady, and Nafisat al-Darayn, the “Rare one among ladies in this life and the next”, and Sahibat al-Karamat, “the Lady of Miracles”, and Sayyidat Ahl al-Fatwa, “the Leading Lady in deriving rulings and verdicts”, and Umm al-Awaajiz, “the Mother of Elderly Women”, and Nafisat al-Masriyyin, “the Rare Lady of the Egyptians”, because of the Egyptian people’s intense love for her and her love for them, and her being their recourse for their every problem - collectively and individually.

Sayyida Nafisa used to pray the five prayers regularly behind her father in Masjid an-Nabawi (s) from the age of six. Her father used to take her by the hand and enter inside the room of the grave of the Holy Prophet (s), which is the house of Sayyida `Ayesha (r). He would address the Prophet (s) directly saying: "Ya Rasullullah!, O Beloved Prophet of Allah! I am pleased with my daughter Nafisa!" He continued these visits repeatedly until one day the Prophet (s) appeared to him in a dream saying to him, “Ya Hasan, I am pleased with your daughter Nafisa, because you are pleased with her, and Allah is pleased with her because I am pleased with her.

Intercession

Here Imam Metawalli Ash-Sha`rawi has elucidated the true meaning of intercession (shafa`a) in the understanding of the scholars and saints (awliya) of Islam, showing that it is a method chosen by the early spiritual pioneers of Islam (as-salaf as-salih) as the most excellent means of approach to Allah and His good pleasure - the path to perfection and purification.

On the 5th of Rajab, 161 H. at the age of sixteen years, Nafisa married her cousin Ishaq al-Mu’taman, a direct descendant of Imam al-Husayn (s). She bore from him a son named Al-Qassim (r) and a daughter they named Umm-Kulthum (r).

She performed hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) thirty times ‑ most of them on foot. She would say, “I am following my grandfather Imam al-Husayn (r) in doing that, for he said, ‘I feel shy to meet my Lord having never walked to His House,'" for which reason he used to make the pilgrimage walking.

It is said that on her circumambulation around the Ka`aba, she asked Allah (swt) "O Allah! be satisfied with me (mati`ani bi-ridaaka `annee), I see nothing that veils You from me."

She memorized the Qur`an and its explanation. It is said that when she recited Qur`an she would pray, "O Allah make it easy for me to visit the grave of Sayiddina Ibrahim al-Khalil," for she knew he was the father of prophets and father of her grandfather Prophet Muhammad (s). She knew that the mission of her grandfather Prophet Muhammad (s) was due to the prayer of Ibrahim (as), when he said, "Our Lord! And raise up in their midst a messenger from among them who shall recite unto them Thy revelations, and shall instruct them in the Scripture and in wisdom and shall purify them. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Mighty, Wise." [2: 125]

Visit to Ibrahim al-Khalil (as)

It was only after many years that Allah (swt) answered that prayer making it possible for Sayyida Nafisa to visit the grave of al-Khalil, the Prophet Ibrahim (as) (in Palestine). When she finally arrived, she sat there in front of his grave weeping and reciting, “And when Ibrahim said: My Lord! make this city secure, and save me and my sons from worshipping idols:" [14: 35]

As Sayyida Nafisa sat in front of the grave of Ibrahim al-Khalil (as), reciting the Qur`an, she felt an intense presence, almost tangible, and saw the image of Sayyidina Ibrahim (as) in front of her. Of that moment she said, "My heart began to beat harder and my eyes to blink." She called upon him saying "O my grandfather! - Ya Jiddee!" in the present tense. "I came to you in body and spirit.... as my soul has come to you before many times, I now come to you in body as well. I seek your good pleasure with me and I seek your guidance and instruction in order that I may worship Allah until my dying breath." At that moment she heard a voice emerging from the image of Sayyidina Ibrahim which was before her saying, "Good tidings my granddaughter! You are chosen to be one of the sanctified, worshipful maidservants of your Lord. My advice to you is to recite Surat al-Muzammil, wherein Allah says, “O thou folded in garments! Stand (to prayer) by night, but not all night,…” [73:1] until its end and seek to meditate on what you recite.

“By reciting this chapter you will be guided to the forms of worship and devotion that contain no hardship, as Allah said, ‘Allah does not burden any soul with more than it can bear.’ O my granddaughter! The intensity of your worship has made your body weak - try to keep everything in balance."

Zainab bint Yahya, Sayyida Nafisa’s niece, accompanied her throughout her life as her assistant, staying with her even after her marriage until her passing. Zainab relates that Sayiddina Ibrahim continued guiding her, saying, “Read the verse ‘Thy Lord doth know that thou standest forth (to prayer) nigh two-thirds of the night, or half the night, or a third of the night, and so doth a party of those with thee…’” [73:20] until the end of Surat al-Muzzamil.'

Know that Allah made the night prayers voluntary, after it had been made obligatory on the Prophet (s), for He(swt) knows that many of His servants are engaged during the day in the struggle to educate people in God's Way, or working for their provision, and this work therefore is a form of worship. Have mercy on yourself and give yourself a chance to rest in order to have strength for the next day. You are already considered among the first ranks of the pious.”

At that time she said, "O my great-grandfather I am going to fulfill your instructions. And I wish from your pure soul to grant to my soul purity and refinement until I meet Allah (swt) and He is pleased with me." She heard the voice of Sayiddina Ibrahim saying "O my granddaughter, Good tidings for you, Allah inspired to me that He has accepted your du`a. And I will accompany you until we meet in the world of souls in the everlasting life, and we meet on the Judgment Day. Then he recited the verse, "And fear the Day when ye shall be brought back to Allah. Then shall every soul be paid what it earned, and none shall be dealt with unjustly.” [2: 281]

Relocation to Cairo

When Sayyida Nafisa was 44 years old she moved to Cairo. She arrived on the 26th of Ramadan in the year 193 H. On her way, she passed through the city of Arriche. When people knew of her arrival, they rushed forth en masse to meet her, for her renown as a devout worshipper and lady saint had preceded her. Historians say the men and women of Egypt went to receive her in a huge procession, riding on horses, camels, donkeys and on foot; waiting overnight in tents; greeting her in the morning with the chanting of 'la ilaha ill-Allah' and 'Allahu akbar', and accompanying her in a huge procession from Arriche to Cairo, according her great dignity and respect.

One of the notable merchants of Cairo, Jamaluddin Abdullah al-Jassas, hosted her in his home for many months. From every distant corner of Egypt people used to come to visit her and to take blessings from (tabarukki biha) her. Sayyida Nafisa felt that her presence might become too great a burden on her hosts, so she moved to a place of her own, in the District of Khalaf, in the Mosque of Shajarat al-Durr, in Khalifa Street, now known as the al-Hasaniyya District. The house to which she moved was owned by an Egyptian woman named Ummu Hani, renowned for her piety. This move did not bring any surcease to the flood of Egyptians coming from every far distant area, often in huge groups, to visit her and receive her baraka, especially women who came simply to touch her and request her du`a.

Touching a Pious Person for Baraka

Al-Tabarani, and Imam Ahmad in his Musnad (5:67-68) with a sound chain as stated by al-Haythami narrated through Handhalah Ibn Hudhaym that the latter went with his grandfather, Hudhaym, to the Prophet (s). Hudhaym said to the Messenger of Allah (s): "I have sons and grandsons, some of whom are pubescent and others still children." Motioning to the young child next to him, he said: "This is the youngest." The Prophet (s) brought this young child whose name was Handhalah next to him, wiped on his head, and told him, "barakallahu fik," which means: "May Allah bless you." After that, people started to bring Handhalah a person with a swollen face or a sheep with a swollen udder. Handhalah would place his hand on that part of his head the Prophet (s) wiped, then touch the swollen part and say ‘Bismillah’, and the swelling would be cured.

Sayyida Nafisa’s Longing for Her Grandfather (s)

At that point Sayyida Nafisa began to feel a tremendous burden due to the huge gatherings of people visiting her and asking her du`a, who came camping around her home, often overnight. She decided to leave Egypt and return to Madina al-Munawwara, feeling she was losing time for worship in meeting the endless throngs. Discovering her decision to leave, thousands of people sought out Sayyida Nafisa, begging her to reverse her decision and remain in Egypt.

They swarmed the Governor of Egypt, As-Sirri bin al-Hakam, asking him to request Sayyida Nafisa to stay. He paid her a visit, politely urging her to stay for the sake of the people who so needed her baraka and her prayers. She informed him that she had decided to stay in Egypt. “However,” she said, "I am a weak lady and these people have gathered in thousands which prevents me from observing my daily recitations. Also my home is tiny and unable to accommodate these huge crowds. I began to feel extreme longing for my grandfather (s), so my heart is calling me to return to Madina to visit my grandfather's (s) grave."

The governor replied, "O granddaughter of Prophet (s)! I promise you I will try my best to solve this problem, for I know your house is small. But from the depths of my heart, without asking anything in return, for the sake of Allah I am giving you a mansion I own in the district of Dirr as-Sabah. I beg you to accept this house from me and to use it in whatever way you wish."

Sayyida Nafisa paused for many minutes, engaged in deep meditation. Finally she lifted her head from her reverie and said, "I accept your offer of your house." Then she said, "O governor of Egypt! What am I to do with these huge crowds of people?" He said, "Assign Saturday and Wednesday for people to visit, and dedicate the other days purely for worship."

Sayyida Nafisa moved to the larger house, granted to her as a gift (hiba), without giving anything in return, for the governor had granted it to her solely out of regard for her personal piety and sincerity. She followed his suggestion, relocated her residence and received people on Saturdays and Wednesdays, devoting the remaining days to worship of her Lord.

Sayyida Nafisa and Imam Shafi`i

Sayyida Nafisa hosted most of the scholars of her time, experts in jurisprudence, hadith, and Qur`anic explanation. But by far the greatest scholarly gatherings were those she hosted for the pillars of tasawwuf and the pious of her time (Aqtab al-tasawwuf). Among these pillars of tasawwuf and fiqh was Imam al-Shafi`i who had moved to Egypt from Baghdad in 109 H., five years after Sayyida Nafisa's arrival in Cairo.

Imam Shafi`i stayed in Egypt for over four years until his passing. There he classified his books and assembled his school of jurisprudence; it was in Egypt that he acquired fame and people came to sit in his majlis - association. His new school of thought was modified greatly from the school he had developed earlier in Baghdad, according to the change of times, culture and customs. His judgments were written in the book "Al-Umm".

Imam Shafi`i Differs With Himself

From Imam Shafi`i's careful tuning of his "Baghdadi school" to produce the different "Egyptian school", we see the importance he gave, in making a juristic decision about an issue, of taking into account not only the relevant verses of Qur`an and applicable hadith, but the characteristics of the people he was giving the ruling for as well, including aspects of culture, behavior, the overall public level of morality and other intangibles. So whereas Imam Shafi`i could be said to have differed with himself on some issues, unfortunately today, differences in jurisprudence between the imams have caused one group of Muslims to accuse another of insincerity, innovation (bida`), unbelief (kufr)and worst of all, polytheism, (shirk).

Scholarly and Spiritual Association with Sayyida Nafisa

Imam Shafi`i began teaching after Fajr prayer every day his students of Qur`an and its exegesis (tafsir) and other distinguished scholars would sit to study. Immediately after sunrise the hadith students would arrive and the students of exegesis would leave. Following them were the students of hadith explanation, followed by the group of speculative philosophy (kalam) students, then students of jurisprudence (fiqh) shortly before noon. Thus Imam Shafi`i would sit at least six hours, with different groups of students, teaching one course after another. The fertility and fruitfulness of Imam Shafi`i's fiqh was a result of his vast intellect and life experience, acquired during his extensive travels throughout Muslim lands, and in his ongoing debates with other scholars.

When Imam Shafi`i arrived in Egypt, a relationship evolved with Sayyida Nafisa, based on adherence to faith and piety in religion. He used to visit her in her home going to and returning from his associations at the Mosque of ` Umar ibn al-`Aas, in al-Fistat district.

Imam Shafi`i used to lead taraweeh in the Masjid of Sayyida Nafisa and she would pray following him for the entire Ramadan. Historians say that despite his tremendous scholarship, Imam Shafi`i used to visit Sayyida Nafisa to ask her invocation (du`a) and seek her baraka (blessing).

Imam Shafi`i also used to sit in Sayyida Nafisa's association, learning hadith from her. When on occasion he was sick, he would send one of his students to sit in her association. He would invariably tell her, "Your cousin ash-Shafi`i is sick and requests your du`a." Immediately. Sayyida Nafisa would raise her hands in supplication, asking Allah to cure Imam ash-Shafi`i. Often by the time the messenger returned to Imam ash-Shafi`i he would find him already cured, by means of her du`a.

Sayyida Nafisa Recites His Funeral Prayer

One time Imam ash-Shafi`i fell sick and as usual sent his messenger asking Sayyida Nafisa's du`a. She sent him the message, "Tell him that may Allah make his meeting with Him the Best of meetings and may Allah lift him to His proximity." When the messenger returned with this message, the imam understood that his death was imminent. Immediately Imam Shafi`i wrote his will, stating that Sayyida Nafisa should pray the funeral prayers (salat al-janaza) over him. He died at the end of Rajab, 204 H.

Sayyida Nafisa also executed his will. Incapacitated due to her constant worship, they brought the imam's body from his house in al-Fistat district to her home. There she prayed the funeral prayer (salat al-janaza) over him from the women's section, following Imam al-Buwaiti who lead the prayer.

Sayyida Nafisa's Majlis

Not only did Imam ash-Shafi`i sit with her, learn hadith from her, request her du`a and seek her baraka, but so too did many other scholars and great Sufis (kaana hunaak katheera alulama'i wa kibaar as-sufiyya). Among them were al-Imam Uthman bin Sa`eed al-Misri, Dhun-Nun al-Masri, Masri al-Samarkandi, Imam Abu Bakr al-Adfawi, (author of one of the greatest explanations of Qur`an, al-Istiftah fi `ulum al-Qur`an), and Abul Hasan bin Ali bin Ibrahim who wrote ten volumes on Qur`anic grammar, and many others.

Her asceticism

Sayyida Nafisa was renowned for asceticism and for living a life of hardship (zuhd). When asked what her meals consisted of, Zainab, daughter of her brother, replied, "My auntie used to eat once every three days. She had a basket hanging in her niche. Whenever she wanted something small to eat she would find something in that basket, sent from Allah (swt). She never ate anything other than food from her husband and that which Allah sent her as a gift."

One day the governor of Egypt sent Sayyida Nafisa 100,000 dirhams (equivalent to perhaps millions of dollars in today's money). He said, "Take this money from me. I ask nothing in return, but I thank Allah for this opportunity to repent. I give this money to you because of your piety." She took that money as her own and distributed it to the poor until nothing remained. Princes, nobles and many ordinary people sent her gifts. She accepted them, then distribute them in whatever way she liked.

Historians report her niece Zainab saying, "I served my auntie Sayyida Nafisa for forty years. I never saw her sleeping at night and I never saw her eating during the day, except the days forbidden to fast - the two `Eids and the Days of Tashriq (11th - 13th of Dhul Hijja)." Zainab once said to Sayyida Nafisa, "You must take care of yourself." She replied, "How shall I take care of myself before I reach my Lord? Ahead of me are so many barriers which no one can cross except the successful ones (al-faizun)."

The Servant Returned to The Master

When she began to feel her death approaching, Sayyida Nafisa dug her grave with her own hands inside her home. Every day she would enter the grave and worship in it, as a reminder of the coming afterlife. She used to pray all her supererogatory prayers inside that grave. Al-Allama al-Ajhuri said, "She completed the Holy Qur`an while sitting in her grave six thousand times, and she granted the rewards of that recitation to all deceased Muslims." [This is in contradistinction to the Salafi ideology's rejection of gifting recitation of the Qur`an to the dead.]

When Sayyida Nafisa’s illness worsened she wrote to her husband Ishaq al-Mu`taman, who was living in Madina al-Munawwara, asking him to return to Egypt. He came with their son Qassim and daughter Umm-Kulthum. She became very ill at the beginning of Ramadan, 208 H. Her companions asked her to stop fasting to keep her strength. She refused, saying, "I have been asking Allah to die fasting for thirty years; now you want me to break the fast?"

Upon her passing, her husband prepared to move her body to Madinat al-Munawarra, to be buried in Jannat al-Baqi`, but the people of Egypt asked him not to do that, but to bury her in the grave she had dug with her own hands. The governor of Egypt along with many people asked Ishaq al-Mu`taman to bury Sayyida Nafisa in Egypt. They collected a large sum of money and offered it to him. Returning the next day, they asked for his decision. He replied, "I have decided to bury her here. I saw the Prophet (s) in a dream last night, and he told me, 'Give them back their money and bury your wife in Egypt.'"

The night Sayyida Nafisa died was an immense tragedy for the people of Egypt, who were stunned at the news. Coming from every village in Egypt, people gathered at her house in Cairo, lighting candles and weeping. For them Sayyida Nafisa was a beacon of knowledge and a source of blessing, baraka, from the family of the Prophet (s). It was a day of sorrow and mourning throughout Egypt. The day they attempted to bury her, it was very difficult to move her body to her final resting place, due to the crowds of people lamenting, crying, and calling on Allah by His Names and Attributes. The like of that gathering was unprecedented in all of Egypt.

From Her Miracles

More than 150 miracles were recorded by historians as appearing from Sayyida Nafisa. Imam Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani wrote about them.

The story is related that when Sayyida Nafisa arrived in Egypt and settled in her home, there was a non-Muslim family living beside her, whose daughter was paralyzed from the waist down. One day the girl’s mother brought her to Sayyida Nafisa to watch while she went shopping. She left her daughter in one corner of Sayyida Nafisa's house. Sayyida Nafisa began making ablution and water from her ablution flowed towards the girl. As the water touched the body of the girl, she experienced something strange. She began to take the water from Sayyida Nafisa’s ablution and rub it on her paralyzed feet and legs. Suddenly by Allah's (swt) Mercy, the paralysis disappeared completely and she was able to stand.

Meanwhile Sayyida Nafisa was busy in prayer. The girl stood up and seeing her mother just returning from the market, ran to meet her to tell her what had happened. Her mother cried with joy declaring, "That woman is truly holy and her religion is the truth." She came in, hugged Sayyida Nafisa, thanked her for healing her daughter and asked her to pray that she be guided from darkness to light. Sayyida Nafisa then taught her to recite the shahada.

When the father of the girl returned home that evening, whose name was Ayyub Abu Surraya, and saw his daughter cured, he was overjoyed. He asked his wife about what happened and she told him the whole story. He raised his head heavenwards saying, "O Allah! You guide whom You like and I now know that Islam is the true religion, completing what we believe in." He went to the home of Sayyida Nafisa. Speaking to her from behind a veil he said, "I believe in your religion, and I accept it. I testify that there is none to worship except Allah and that your grandfather Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah." That miracle was the cause for the entire tribe of Sayyida Nafisa's neighbors to enter Islam.

A Prisoner Set Free

One of Sayyida Nafisa's miracles relates to a Muslim man married to a Christian woman. They had a son. When he grew up he began to travel. While traveling in a country far from home he was captured and held prisoner. After hearing of his capture, his mother used to frequent the church, praying that her son be released and returned to them. Years passed but he was not released. One day she told her husband, "I heard that there is a saintly woman Nafisa bint al-Hasan al-Anwar whose prayers are always answered. Since you are Muslim go and ask her to pray for the return of our son." He went and asked Sayyida Nafisa for her du`a.

Late that night they heard a knock at the door. Waking and wondering who it could be they went and opened the door. To their astonishment they found their son standing there. They asked him, "How did you come here?" He said, "Tonight I was sitting there in prison, in chains. Suddenly I felt a spiritual presence, and I heard a voice saying, 'Free him! Nafisa bint al-Hasan interceded for him.' Suddenly I found myself standing here at the door of our house." That day his mother went to visit Sayyida Nafisa, thanking her for saving her son, then accepting Islam at her hand.

The Nile fails to flood

In the year 201 H. (816 CE) the Nile failed to flood, as is its normal annual custom. People went to Sayyida Nafisa asking her to pray that Allah cause the Nile to flood, for without the usual flood no crops would grow. Sayyida Nafisa gave them her faceveil telling them, “throw that in the Nile and by Allah's grace it will flood.” They took her burqa and threw it in the Nile. Immediately the river began to rise and overflow its banks.

[One should note here this is a miracle extremely similar to the incident of the shirt of Sayiddina Yusuf (as), which when cast on the face of his father Ya`qub (as), was the cause for his sight to be restored by Allah's Will. Again, such incidents clarify the true meaning of tawassul and shafa`a (intercession) by means of objects related to pure, pious individuals.]

Stolen wool

Al-Imam al-Munawi mentions a story of Sayyida Nafisa, related to him from al-Azhari in his book al-Kawakib as-sayyaara:

There was an old lady who had four daughters. This woman used to spin wool into yarn, then take the yarn and sell it. With half the earnings she would buy more wool spending the rest on their food and drink for the week. One day the old lady set out for the market, with the spun wool wrapped in a red package. Without warning an eagle dove out of the sky, grabbed the package in its claws and flew off. The old lady, overcome with fear and worry, fainted. When she awoke she began crying. People around her, hearing her story told her about Sayyida Nafisa. She went to Sayyida Nafisa and related this strange incident. Sayyida Nafisa said, "O Allah! Exalted in Power and Owner of this creation: put right what the affairs of Your servant this lady fulana. She is Your servant and her children are Your servants and You are powerful over all things." She told the old lady to return to her home and wait.

The old lady went home crying with worry for the sake of her young children. Night found her still crying. Suddenly a commotion was heard outside. It was a group of people seeking Sayyida Nafisa. They told her, “Something very strange just happened to us. We came to you because we have been ordered to do so."

She said, "What happened?" They related, "We were on a ship traveling at sea. As we began approaching land one of the planks suddenly sprung loose and the boat began to flood. Some of us did not know how to swim and we were in deep water still five hours from shore. The boat began to fill up and sink. All of a sudden an eagle appeared holding a red package in its claws. It threw that package, which was full of spun wool, into that crack filling it. The water stopped flooding and we managed to reach shore safely. We heard a voice saying, 'Go to Sayyida Nafisa.'

The boat crew presented Sayyida Nafisa a gift of 500 dinars. Sayyida Nafisa began to cry, "O Allah you are so merciful to Your servants." She asked the old lady, "How much did you usually get for your wool each week?" The lady replied, "I used to get 20 dinars." Sayyida Nafisa gave her the 500 dinars and she went home overjoyed. She told her neighbors what happened and they came in droves to see Sayyida Nafisa. Many ended up giving themselves over to her service, helping her cook food for the poor, distribute alms and aid the sick and lame.

Miracles after her death

The miracles after Sayyida Nafisa’s death are too numerous to mention. Once thieves entered her mosque in 683 H. and stole sixteen silver lamps. As the thieves tried to escape they discovered there was no longer a door. They were trapped inside until morning, when the caretaker arrived, opened the door and found the thieves with the lamps.

Recently in 1940, fifty years ago, a similar occurrence took place. A person, well-known in the area, entered the Mosque of Sayyida Nafisa and hid himself. When everyone had left that person stole a beautiful Kashmiri shawl, a gift from the King of Kashmir to Sayyida Zainab. When he tried to escape he could not find the door. He was kept prisoner until morning, when the people found him and took him to the police.

It is related in history that Abul `Izz al-Yamani said, "I was very well-known in my community, rich in my family, owning many farms. I was proud of myself and arrogant. Then I came down with a sickness that caused me to lose my sight and I fell into great difficulties. I spent most of my wealth seeking a cure, but alas doctors were unable to help me. They told me I would be blind for the rest of my life. Finally I sought out Sayyida Nafisa's help. While waiting to see her I fell asleep. I saw a dream in which Sayyida Nafisa visited me and put something in my eyes. When I awoke my sight had been fully restored."

The Story of Affan bin Sulayman

Historians relate the story of an Egyptian named Affan bin Sulayman al-Masri. He bought a house and one day discovered a treasure buried under it. He began to spend his newfound wealth on the poor and the unfortunate.

One day he bought 1000 camel-loads of wheat from Prince Ahmad bin Keeghalgh. After some time the prices soared due to scarcity of wheat, shooting up to thrice its normal value. Prince Ahmad called Affan to his palace. The prince told him, “Either return the 1000 camel-loads or pay me for the wheat at today's price.” Affan bin Sulayman refused, leaving angry. He went and distributed all the wheat to the poor and needy, leaving only a small portion for himself and his family.

Prince Ahmad went to the governor of Egypt Taqeen bin Abdullah al-Harbi, an arrogant and ruthless ruler. He ordered that all of Affan bin Sulayman's wealth and holdings be impounded. Affan bin Sulayman decided to leave Egypt, running from the oppression of the governor Taqeen. He told his story to a descendant of the Prophet (s), Ash-Sharif `Ali bin Abdullah a very pious man. He took him to the grave of Sayyida Nafisa and both of them sat facing the grave reciting verses of Qur`an, asking Allah to send the rewards of the recitation to Sayyida Nafisa and asking Allah (swt) in her presence and for her sake and the sake of her grandfather the Prophet (s) to solve the problem of Affan bin Sulayman. Suddenly they both fell asleep. They both saw Sayyida Nafisa in the dream telling him, "Go together with Affan bin Sulayman to the governor of Egypt Taqeen. I solved his problem."

Together they left and visited the governor, who to their surprise hosted them in grand style. The governor said, "Sayyida Nafisa appeared to me in a dream saying, 'Be generous and host As-Sayyid Ali very well and return all Affan’s money to him; he asked for our intercession.'”

Taqeen, raising his hands said, “O Allah forgive me for what I did.” Turning to Affan b. Sulayman he said, "I am releasing all your money." The governor Taqeen ordered Affan’s money returned to him and ordered that his own treasuries be opened and spent on the poor. He used to say, "All Egyptians are afraid of me, but I am afraid of Affan bin Sulyman and his du`a at the grave of Sayyida Nafisa." With that du`a, the governor of Egypt corrected his wrong and unjust ways and lived as a righteous governor for the rest of his life. He wrote in his will that he should be buried in Bayt al-Maqdis, Jerusalem. When he died, that took place according to his orders.

Her Maqam

The first one to build a masjid by the grave of Sayyida Nafisa was the governor of Egypt, Ubaydullah bin Sirri bin al-Hakam. Then it was renovated by Badr al-Jamali, the commander in chief of the army of Egypt, in the year 482 H. It was renovated again by Muhammad bin al-Qalawun in 740H. Then Prince Abdur Rahman Katakhada renovated it further in the year 773 H. Finally the Ministry of Religious Endowments renoveated it in 1314 H. to the structure it has today. The copper room which is entirely hand-carved over her grave was made in 1266 H. The door which is now there is ornately engraved, and was placed there by Ali Pasha, governor of Egypt in 1170. Water was piped in for people to drink. Above the water-dispensing room is a room for memorizing Qur`an. All Abbasid caliphs were buried on the eastern side of the grave in the time of al-Zahir Baybars.

From her death and until today, around the year and around the clock you will find people visiting Sayyida Nafisa's grave: from the highest Islamic scholars to common people. Over her grave her lineage to the Prophet (s) is engraved. Under that is written "Anyone experiencing difficulties in his life should visit the grave of Sayyida Nafisa, recite surat al-Fatiha (Qur`an, 1), surat al-`Ala (87), surat al-Ikhlas (112) and al-muwadhitayn (113, 114), gift that recitation to her and make du`a for Allah to solve that problem."

The method of greeting Sayyida Nafisa us also described, “In a low voice say, ‘Peace be upon you, as-salaamu `alayki, O Sayyidina Nafisa, daughter of Hasan al-Anwar, son of as-Sayyid Zayd al-Ablaj, son of As-Sayyid Hasan, son of Sayyida Ali, and of Sayyida Fatima, daughter of the Prophet (s)."copyright The Muslim Magazine